Pogacar’s assault, Sodaro wins (again), and more endurance news from the week of March 4
👋 Good morning! Happy Friday, friends. The Front Pack newsletter is your source for all things endurance. We bring you the top stories, headlines, deals and other highlights from the week, each Friday. Click here for the web edition.
I’m 4 weeks out from my first Ironman 70.3 of the season and getting into that fine tuning phase. Months of work have been put in and while hard work remains, the excitement of going toe-to-toe with a few thousand other athletes keeps me focused. Hope everyone is healthy!
Stay moving…✌🏼 – Scott
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Headlines
🚴 50 Mile Assault – You read that right, Tadej Pogacar went off with a long- range 50 mile solo assault to destroy the field at Strade Bianche in Italy. [velo]
🏊🚴🏃 Are we having fun yet? – Chelsea Sodaro is now 2 for 2 on the season after womping her female competitors by 17 minutes in a dominating performance at Ironman New Zealand. [tri247]
🏃 Tokyo Marathon – Benson Kipruto (KEN) took the men’s W going 2:02:16 while Sutume Kebede (ETH) grabbed the women’s title. [NBC]
🚴 Gravel in the Desert – 2023 Lifetime Grand Prix winners Keegan Swenson and Sofia Gomez Villafane repeat as Arizona Belgian Waffle Ride gravel champs. While Keegan took the W by more than 2 minutes, Sofia came back late to secure the W. [CyclingNews]
Fueling in 2024
It’s not hard. If you train, you need fuel. And with race season almost here, I’m highlighting my nutrition plan based on my fueling needs. Everyone is different so do what you need to but if you’re new to this, hopefully the below can be a good template to your own successful training/racing.
Let’s first define Fuel.
Fuel is how much sodium and carbohydrates you need per hour of training or racing.
To begin with, I’m 6’2 and 170 lbs, live in Texas and train on average 11 – 13 hours a week. Texas climate is hot. Beginning in late March it goes from warm to hot to unbearable until October real fast. Most of my training is done outside or in my non-insulated garage. When it’s hot, I get everything done first thing in the AM to beat the heat.
Sodium
To understand my fueling needs, each season I take a sweat test. I like Levelen. It’s easy and the results come back in a week or two. An example of what you’ll receive is below. My sweat profile is Level 3 – moderate with the data showing I sweat more running than biking and need roughly 2-3 21oz. bottles of H20/hr and 2,000 mg of sodium/hr. *NOTE – During training, I’ll admittedly only do 1 21oz bottle of sodium + carbs per hour because I’m not made of $$ and recover pretty well without. But as I get closer to an ‘A’ race, I’ll follow my race plan starting 5 weeks out to train/test my stomach on long rides or runs.
To reach my sodium needs, I prefer LMNT. It’s 1,000mg of sodium per packet and 30 come in a box. Simple math in my brain. I like the flavors by order of orange salt, grapefruit salt, and watermelon salt. Bonus, if you have an FSA/HSA through your insurance, you can pay through that account on Amazon – the product should say ‘HSA/FSA accepted’.
Carbs
1 carbohydrate gram = 4 Calories
Somewhere along the line, I forgot this so you shouldn’t. When it comes to calories, I don’t really pay attention to that number as much; but focus on the carbs I need per hour.
I’m one to experiment and over the last 3 seasons I’ve experimented with: Gatorade Endurance, GU Roctane, Precision Fuel and Hydration PF 60 Drink Mix, and Maurten Drink Mix 320. For gels, I’ve bounced between GU, and SiS Go Isotonic Energy Gels. Overall, I like Precision and Maurten because I know what’s in them and they’re good on my gut but they’re unsustainable from a cost perspective.
For my money, in 2024, I’ll be sticking with SiS Go Isotonic Energy Gels (recently a steal at $1 via The Feed) as I like the watery ‘one gulp texture’ versus the GU ‘have to work to get it out of the the package’ texture.
For my main source of fueling, I’ll be using the all-new RAW FUEL endurance line (code: sbaldwin for 5% off) that launched this week.
I’ve used RAW creatine and RAW whey for years and to me its the best you can get. So naturally when they announced this endurance line, I was more than intrigued. Its easy on my stomach, you know what the ingredients are and most importantly, their endurance line aligns with the formula I want, ratio of carbs is 1 to 0.8. They are also an INFORMED product so every batch is tested for banned substances. I dug up the following chart (below) to highlight. It’s comparable to Precision which is what I used most recently and like, but you get 30 more servings at a similar price point. BPN’s G.1.M SPORT totally jacks up my stomach. One serving and I get the absolute worst stomach aches for hours; it’s because it is slow absorption and not easy on the stomach. We’re in endurance so we need fuel fast!
Maurten is of course a yes, if money if no hang up. But for me, I’m rocking RAW FUEL in 2024. During my initial two weeks of using it (yes, I paid for it), I’ve had no stomach problems, it dissolves well and the orange taste is as expected. In big 3 and 2.5 hour bike sessions, I’ve not felt a loss in energy or any other difference between every other brand I’ve mentioned above. It’s a winner for me.
An Exact Science?
For me no but I do plan all of this math weeks in advance, run it by my coach, and have everything labeled, etc. ahead of race day. I do not like the stress of surprises. As I mentioned before, I need roughly 2000mg of sodium/hour and want to do about 100g carbs/hour. To get to these numbers I’ll have the following in my bottles per hour. I may even add another half scoop of RAW to go over what I need but for now let’s say it is:
What about you? What are your go-to supplements or numbers for fueling; would love to hear.
More Top Stories
🚴 It was fun while it lasted: The internet was on 🔥 this week after multiple pro cycling race teams debuted some extremely out there aero helmets. Well, as always, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has announced an ‘in-depth analysis’ of its regulations on the design and use of time trial helmets, already banning the new Specialized head sock. [GCN]
🚵🏾♀️ The NBA on two-wheels: If you haven’t followed his journey, you should. NBA legend, Reggie Miller has been a huge mountain biker throughout the years and is well, pretty good. This past weekend, the 6’7, 5x NBA All-star won two races in CA to open his season. [bikemag]
🏃 What is Zone 2? It is a scientifically proven method but why. This article explores Zone 2 training and why the low impact aerobic based training may be just the best kind of training. [Tom’s Guide]
🏃 Best Cushioned Running Shoes of 2024: The editors tested some of the best cushioned road running shoes on the market to find ones that could suit any running style. [irunfar]
Deals and Steals
💸 GU Energy Refillable Flask: I’m giving away all my secrets here but since we talked about fueling, skip the messy opening of your gels during your race and invest in this refillable gel flask. It holds 5oz or about 3 gels. Keep it in your kit or on your bike and save yourself time, and a littering penalty!
💸 Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones: Yes, another book. But in a world where habits are the bedrock of success, creating good ones and keeping to them can never be understated. This book was a great reminder for myself in life and sport.
💸 💸 SRAM Red AXS DUB 12-Speed Power Meter Crankset – 2023: SRAM’s top of the line 12-speed crankset is 31% off.
The Rewatchables
Content for long training days inside or just everyday life.
Three Peaks & In Between – Ultra cycling Documentary: This is the story of Jana and the cycling race of her life from Vienna to Niece, while covering more than 2,000 kilometers and 30,000 meters of altitude gain. The cyclists ride entirely self-supported and have to pass three set checkpoints. On average it takes them 9-10 days to reach the finish line. There is no price money involved.
Rise of a Champion | Lucy Charles-Barclay: Evolution: This is the story of Lucy’s childhood and her rise to becoming a champion, with interviews from her family, friends and coaches who all saw her grow into the professional athlete she always dreamed of.
Blow Up at Black Canyon 100K – Lessons Learned: Heather Jackson documents her journey to the Black Country 100K and her harsh takeaways and lessons learned following.
Breathtaking
One image. No words
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